The 9:1 rule on Reddit
Leadhoot teamOctober 27, 20265 min read
One self-promotional post for every nine that are not. Reddit dropped the number from its site-wide rules, but moderators and the spam filter still behave as if it were there.
The 9:1 rule on Reddit means that for every post or comment that promotes your own product, site or content, you should make nine that do not. It comes from Reddit's old self-promotion guideline, which said about 10% of your activity could link to your own stuff. Reddit no longer writes the number into its site-wide rules, but many subreddits still do, and accounts that mostly promote are what moderators remove and the spam filter catches. It is not the same as the 90-9-1 rule, which is about how many people post at all.
Where the 9:1 rule came from
Reddit's early self-promotion page told users to keep 10% or less of their posting and conversation linking to their own content, summed up in one line: it's fine to be a redditor with a website, it's not fine to be a website with a Reddit account. People turned the 10% into a ratio, nine normal contributions for every one promotional, and the name stuck.
Does Reddit still enforce it?
Not as a site-wide number. Today's Reddit Rules ban spam and ask you to follow each community's own rules. In practice the ratio still matters for three reasons: many subreddits copy it, or something stricter, into their rules; moderators look at your profile before deciding whether a post is spam; and accounts whose history is mostly links to one domain are the ones that get filtered, removed or shadowbanned.
| Where | What applies |
|---|---|
| Reddit-wide | No fixed ratio. Spam, vote manipulation and posting the same link everywhere are banned |
| Subreddits that state it | The 9:1 or 10% rule as written in their sidebar, often stricter for links |
| Subreddits that ban promotion | Zero promotional posts, often a weekly thread is the only place allowed |
| Promotion-friendly subreddits | Self-promotion allowed, usually still one post per week or less |
What counts as self-promotion
- Links to your own site, product, app, store, newsletter, YouTube channel or affiliate page.
- Posts announcing or demoing something you made, even without a link, in most subreddits.
- Comments that name your own product as the answer, unless you disclose it and it genuinely fits the question.
- Not self-promotion: answering questions, sharing other people's work, and posts about the topic that never point back to you.
How to stay under the 9:1 rule
- Comment first. Answer questions in the subreddits your buyers use for a couple of weeks before you post anything of your own; it also builds the karma many subreddits require.
- Count your last 20 posts and comments. If more than two point at your stuff, stop promoting until the ratio recovers. The Reddit user analyzer shows what your history looks like to a moderator.
- Read each subreddit's rules and sidebar. Its own rule always beats the general 9:1 guideline.
- Disclose. "I built this" or "I work on X" turns a removable post into an acceptable one in many subreddits.
- Never post the same link to several subreddits in a row. That is the fastest way to a spam filter hit or a shadowban; check with the shadowban checker if your posts stop getting replies, and see how to know if you are banned.
The better way to use your one in ten
The promotional tenth works best as a reply, not a post: someone asks for a tool, a freelancer or a recommendation, and you answer with a disclosed, useful mention. Those threads are rare and go stale within hours, so the hard part is finding them early. More on doing that without breaking rules in how to promote on Reddit without getting banned.
Get alerted within a minute when someone on Reddit asks for what you sell, so your one in ten lands where it is wanted.
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